On Tuesday May 19th, Conservative Shadow Minister for Finance Pierre Poilievre, spoke with the Minister of Finance Bill Morneau about the government’s COVID-19 economic response plan.

Mr. Poilievre thanked the Minister for the call and asked the following three questions:

1. The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy is only available to businesses whose revenues are less than 70% of their pre-COVID-19 levels. Businesses whose revenue is slightly higher than 70% of pre-COVID-19 levels get no wage subsidy. This abrupt cut-off forces businesses to suppress their revenues to qualify for the subsidy. Instead of cutting off the entire subsidy when businesses exceed 70% of pre-COVID-19 revenue, assistance should phase out gradually as businesses regain revenues and be calibrated to ensure that businesses are always better off earning more revenue.

Minister Morneau: The Minister thanked Mr. Poilievre and said that, as announced on Friday last week, this is something that the government is exploring and consulting on.

2. The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance is only available to businesses whose revenues are less than 30% of their pre-COVID-19 levels. Businesses whose revenue is slightly higher than 30% of pre-COVID-19 levels get no wage subsidy. This abrupt cut-off forces businesses to suppress their revenues to qualify for the subsidy. Instead of cutting off the entire subsidy when businesses exceed 30% of pre-COVID-19 revenue, assistance should phase out gradually as businesses regain revenues and be calibrated to ensure that businesses are always better off earning more revenue.

Minister Morneau: The Minister thanked Mr. Poilievre for his question and said the government is unveiling further details of the program and as it’s the case for all support programs, will continue to monitor and ensure that it works in the way it is intended to.

3. Borrowing costs are low. However, that will not be the case forever. The government’s deficits may have low borrowing costs today, but the debt will still be around when interest rates rise. Of the debt issued since COVID-19 crisis began, what share is locked in for 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, and 30 years?

Minister Morneau: Acknowledged that this is an important question and promised to take it back to the department and provide him the answers shortly.